


A Day at the Beach

by aurilly



Category: Lost
Genre: F/M, Flash Sideways 'Verse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-26
Updated: 2010-01-26
Packaged: 2017-10-07 09:09:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/63599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aurilly/pseuds/aurilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sayid and Shannon meet on the beach in LA. (reset fic jossed by 6.01)</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Day at the Beach

It was time for more sunblock. Shannon sat up and adjusted her sunglasses, taking in what was new on the beach. Not much. Nothing ever really changed in Malibu, and Malibu was where she'd been stuck for the past two weeks, ever since Boone had brought her home from her latest stunt in Australia. There'd been a big fight, and it was still unclear exactly what they were going to do with her, but one thing was certain; Sabrina had finally realized that if she didn't start taking care of her step-daughter, Shannon was going to end up costing a hell of a lot more than a college education and some spending money.

Shannon was back in the dough, but in the meanwhile, her tan still needed work.

A man had sat down near her towel since the last time she'd looked around. He was foggily familiar, but Shannon had a hard time telling Arabs apart, so she didn't think much of it. He was sitting alone, with no blanket, looking more tragically depressed than she'd ever seen anyone look outside of a movie. He picked vainly at an orange, failing to get more than a fingernail of peel off at a time.

Shannon didn't know what it was about men and oranges; even ones who didn't bite their nails could never get one open.

He must have felt her watching and silently judging, because he turned around and looked at her, narrowing his eyes in thought. Safe behind her shades, Shannon turned her head as if looking elsewhere, but she kept her eyes on him. He was looking at her in a weird way---confusion, appreciation, recognition. Shannon was intrigued. The male gaze was not usually this layered.

"Excuse me, miss," she heard. His voice was like the ocean. Shannon gave him a second look. He wasn't as good looking as the guys she usually went for, and his hair was nuts, but he had a really good body, from what she could tell through his clothes, and an accent that reeked of sex. "You look very familiar. Have we met before?"

Shannon almost snorted. Of all the cheesy pick-up lines. As if she would just start talking to some random dude who wasn't even her type like that. He was foreign, though. Maybe he just didn't know how things worked around here.

She was about to give him a pissy reply in the negative when a wave of something overtook her. What if it wasn't just a line? A rush of images and sounds rushed through her mind: beach, sand, sunset, and Shannon herself laughingly peeling an orange for this guy and feeding him slices in between kisses. It would have been a classic case of déjà vu except that it had definitely never happened.

He was watching her, and nodded when she took too long to respond. Her confusion must have shown plainly on her face. Slowly, he whispered, "You... you think so, too, don't know? We've met before, on a beach, but not this one. And we were..." He didn't finish the sentence, but she knew what the missing words were: 'we were together'. He apparently thought their imaginary romance was enough of a connection to scoot closer to her and proffer his hand. "My name is Sayid."

"Shannon," replied said absently, knowing she should tell him to fuck off just like she told most guys who tried to hit on her to fuck off. But she couldn't. This whole thing was too weird. So instead she said, "Need help with that?"

He looked at the orange and handed it to her. "I would very much appreciate the assistance."

He was sexier up close. Sexy, but still not that handsome, Shannon mused as she got it open in a few seconds. She handed it back to him with her most radiant smile. "Here you go. So, uh," she began, tucking her hair behind her ear, "Where are you from?"

"Iraq."

Shannon was shocked. "I didn't know you guys were even allowed in the country. There's, like, a _war_."

"I have government connections. Or at least, I had. But things have not turned out as planned. The... friend... I was told I would find here in LA was hit by a car two weeks ago, while I was still on the plane to come here."

"Wow… that really sucks." The words sounded flippant, she knew, but Shannon couldn't think of a better way to put it. No wonder he looked so sad. It also made the whole vision thing make even less sense. He was obviously talking about a girl, some long lost love. So how could he and she ever have eaten oranges together on a beach? The fact that they both remembered something that had never happened was freaky, to put it mildly.

"I devoted eight years of my life to looking for this friend. Now I don't know what path to take, what to do with the next eight years," he continued to muse, and then shook himself. "I am sorry. I don't know why I am unburdening myself to a stranger like this."

He looked like he was about to get up in embarrassment but Shannon tugged downwards at his arm, signaling that she wanted him to stay. He really was too sexy to let go. Plus, she'd been having a freaking boring couple of weeks, and talking to him was at least vaguely interesting and different. The only people she'd really spoken to since she'd gotten back were Sabrina, who'd done nothing but bitch and scream, and Boone, who had been acting understandably awkward about the whole sex thing. She had a quick but pleasant fantasy of bringing Sayid home and scandalizing Sabrina.

"Don't be sorry. It's totally fine. And like you said, maybe we aren't strangers? Hey, LA is a nice place. You can still have fun." The invitation was implicit and he understood it.

Sayid regarded her wonderingly again, with that weird déjà vu look she knew she'd had a few minutes before, and then he snapped to attention. From sexy to furious in an instant. "I _do_ know you. Two weeks ago... the flight. You were on my flight. From Sydney. I asked you to watch my luggage while I went to the loo. You didn't. I spent an hour being interrogated because of you!"

Shit. He was right. That _was_ where she knew him from, not from any beach. Giving an Oscar-worthy performance, she fluttered and lied, "Oh god. You! You're right. I felt so bad about that. My brother dragged me off to get food before the flight, didn't care that I was watching it for you. I had to leave it. I wondered what had happened to you. I'm so sorry."

He narrowed his eyes at her, obviously not believing her, but also not calling her out on it. Points for gentlemanly. "I see. It's fine. I still made the flight."

They sat quietly after that, but neither had any intention of leaving. Shannon didn't know where this was going, but she had an unshakable feeling that it had gone there before.


End file.
